Construction to improve and extend the road – one of two access roads planned for Fuyao off Ohio 741 – will start as a $1 million upgrade of the state route, also known as Springboro Pike, ramps up. The two jobs will cause simultaneous lane restrictions, leading to “a conflict of lane closures” as both projects are expected to last into July, Moraine Engineer Charles Haught said.
The construction projects will inconvenience the more than 21,000 daily motorists on the nearly mile-long stretch of Springboro Pike from Dixie Drive to Northlawn Avenue. But the simultaneous projects will get those jobs done at roughly the same time, and it’s a tradeoff Moraine officials will accept given Fuyao’s $360 million investment at its 1.4 million square foot plant, said City Manager David Hicks.
“Overall, the public benefits as well with the Springboro Pike work being in progress as the new entrance road begins. The period of construction work overlaps, (and) motorists only will face construction in that area once,” he stated in an email. “The Springboro improvements will greatly improve travel for the public, and the new entrance will enhance the process for the workers, suppliers and contractors working at the new Fuyao plant.”
Traffic also is expected to increase in that area as Fuyao’s hiring numbers and production rise, officials said, and the second access road – which will include a traffic signal — is constructed south of the existing one at a site not yet announced.
The plant now has filled about 230 positions – 94 salaried, 35 production and 100 temporary workers. By the end of the year, Fuyao’s goal is to increase its workforce to 130 salaried employees, 28 skilled/trade workers and nearly 750 production positions, said Tom Thompsen, the company’s manager of human resources.
“We are refining our staffing plans each month to coincide with the equipment that’s installed and the equipment coming in that we need to have people installing,” he said.
“We’re constantly interviewing people for different engineering positions, quality positions, logistics positions, business development positions – daily we’re doing this,” Thompsen added. “We bring salaried people on. Each week we’ve got people starting. It’s a non-stop type of a process right now.”
The north access road project is expected to take about 100 days, but it will not open until nearby railroad work is done, about a month later, Haught said.
The street’s completion will help pump up plant production, Thompsen said. By year’s end Fuyao’s goal is to be producing 2 million glass car sets, 50 percent of company’s projected output by full operation, he said.
“It’s certainly a very good thing for us and our shipping area,” Thompsen said of the north access road, “…and any time we can improve the access, it’s a good thing.”
The access road’s impact on production and the additional employees also will increase traffic on Ohio 741, which handles 21,400 vehicles a day, according to the Ohio Department of Transportation. When at full operation, nearly 100 trucks will come or go from the plant, Haught has been told.
Work on the north access road will be done by Sunesis Construction Co., a West Chester Twp. firm whose $700,784 proposal was approved by Moraine City Council Thursday night. Both access roads will be paid for by funds approved by the state, Haught said.
The John R. Jurgensen Co. began work last month on Moraine’s Ohio 741 construction project. Much of the work has dealt with curbs and catch basins, with both the east and west sides expected to be done in about two weeks, Haught said.
Milling work and repaving from Main to Northlawn will follow, he said. Typically, crews work south to north on one side of the road, closing the curb lanes before repeating the process on the other side and working north to side, Haught said. Work on the middle lanes will come after.
“Plan on lane closures in one direction or the other,” he said. “It’s a moving closure….and I don’t known when there’s going to be a conflict of lane closures. But as they move north, the lane closures will be moving north.”
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